


Façade

by Lucifra



Series: One Insurgent Butterfree Flaps its Wings [3]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pokemon Fan Games, Pokemon Insurgence (Pokémon Fan Game)
Genre: BAMF Team Rocket, Breaking the Fourth Wall, Competent Team Rocket, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Data theft, Double Battle, Gen, Multi Battle, Perfection cult, Pokemon Battles, Pokemon cults, Team Rocket Trio (Pokemon), i'm still mixing canons here folks, someone actually hits an ohko move
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-28
Updated: 2020-05-28
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:55:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24427600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lucifra/pseuds/Lucifra
Summary: Someone is trying to make a major move in Team Rocket territory. Giovanni doesn't approve, and sends his best out to deal with it.
Relationships: James & Carnivine, James & Pinsir, Jesse & Banette, Jesse & Mimikyu, Jesse & Pumpkaboo, Jesse & Yanmega, Kojirou | James & Musashi | Jessie, Kojirou | James & Musashi | Jessie & Rocket-dan Nyarth | Team Rocket Meowth
Series: One Insurgent Butterfree Flaps its Wings [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1753819
Kudos: 18





	Façade

**Author's Note:**

> Façade, noun. A false, superficial, or artificial appearance or effect.

It was a perfectly ordinary Monday, just the way that Giovanni liked it. There were no scheduled gym challengers to the Viridian Gym, the Game Corner in Celadon had been given the rubber stamp by Health and Safety, talks with Lance were going well to start subcontracting for InterPol, and there weren’t any major crises that he had to deal with.

Just the kind of day he enjoyed.

He spent most of the morning doing paperwork for the planned buyout of the Veilstone Game Corner, and then once he was on track to finish the next day, he shifted his focus to the memos he had received over the weekend.

One in particular caught his eye, and he scrutinized it more closely before sending a reply asking the author to come up to his office.

Five minutes later, Proton knocked on his door. “You wanted to see me, boss?” he asked.

“Indeed. Tell me, what is this about a call for muscle in Saffron City?”

Proton frowned, thinking for a moment, before nodding as he remembered. “Right, that. I couldn’t get too close to that myself, so I sent someone in to find out, since the listing was pretty light on information. All it was about was how there was a big job going down this weekend and they’d need a lot of muscle to pull it off, and she hasn’t gotten back to me yet. Pretty decent pay and a potential for long-term work, too.”

Giovanni very carefully did not frown. “I see. What’s your take on this situation?”

The younger man rubbed at his chin thoughtfully. “My gut tells me it’s on the level, as far as any of these things are. There’s a few enticing targets in Saffron too, what with Silph and the Magnet Train.”

Giovanni nodded once, a curt gesture of approval. “Very well. I’ll have it taken care of.”

Taking this for the dismissal it was, Proton turned and left Giovanni’s office even as the man himself began to plan.

Some time later, he felt he had a more-or-less ironclad plan for the situation and picked up the phone and dialed an internal number. “Ariana? Have unit JJM extracted in a reasonable timeframe, then send them to me for a briefing on a short-term assignment.”

* * *

“You wanted ta see us, boss?” asked Meowth, ignoring Giovanni’s Persian in the manner only cats and the idle rich could.

“Yes, I have a new assignment for you.” Giovanni projected a listing for short-term enforcer work, set in Saffron City, above his desk. “Proton has brought this to my attention. While ordinarily, the contracting of muscle is not something we’d concern ourselves with, this has been spread around all of Kanto, Johto, and Sinnoh, and Proton’s sources say that there’s been a significant number of responses.”

Jesse frowned, thinking hard. “Wasn’t the last time someone put out this big a recruitment drive before the Flare incident in Kalos?”

“The last time of this magnitude, yes. Before that, it was the issues with Cyrus’ Team Galactic. I’m assigning you three to stay in Saffron for the time being, to see if you can find whoever it is that’s put out the call in flagrante and find out what their angle is. This is a no façade mission. As such, you are being issued special equipment to help level the playing field. James, you still have access to a Pinsir, correct?” Giovanni steepled his fingers.

“Yes, sir.”

“Excellent. You’re being temporarily authorized for use of a Mega Ring and Pinsirite. Now Jesse, I understand you have access to a Banette?” Seeing her nod, he continued. “You are also being dispensed a Mega Ring and Banettite. See Archer for your equipment, then deploy to the midtown base and begin surveillance.”

“Yes, sir!” came the answer from three throats, and Team Rocket’s most experienced unit turned to prepare for their mission.

* * *

“So what do you think is going on here, Jesse?” asked James, again.

Jesse closed her eyes for a moment, then slotted the last piece of their surveillance monitor in place before setting it down on the roof. “There. Now that I’ve got that set up, we can talk about that.”  
  
“Oh, sorry, Jesse.”

“It’s… fine.” She took a deep breath to recenter herself, then turned her mind towards the question at hand. “I’m not entirely sure. It’s probably a smash and grab, or at least something along those lines.”

“Dat seems eminently sensible,” drawled Meowth, “but if we managed to figger out who’s tryin’ ta do it, we might be able to figger out where.”

“The thing is, I can’t think of anyone who has the capital to mount an operation this big. Galactic probably, at its height at least, and maybe some of the cults from Torren. But they’ve all been dissolved.” James frowned, trying to think of anything else.

“It could be industrial sabotage? Flare had Lysandre Labs behind them, but Malva’s been taking them legit after all that came to light. There might be someone after either Silph’s data or Magnet Train schematics, but the only companies that would really want those are Devon and the Pokétch Company, but they both have standing partnerships that would let them get what they’re looking for more easily.” Jesse flipped a switch on the surveillance appliance, activating it.

“Hang on just a tick. James, you said someting about Torren’s cults?” Meowth asked.

“Yeah, why?”

Meowth tapped his finger on thin air. “I wanna say dat Reukra and dat other guy, Taen, are still doin’ things. Dey might be da ones behind dis.”

A loud beeping issued from the machinery that Jesse was looking at, and James and Meowth turned to look, showing a number of people in dark clothing streaming through the doors into a glass-fronted building.

“Sounds like we’re about to find out. Whoever it is, they’re going for Silph Co. Gear up and let’s go.” Jesse stood up, checking her Poké Balls, then released Yanmega. “Hop on once you’re ready.”

James patted each of his four Pokémon, then mounted the Flying type, with Meowth climbing his leg. “Alright, let’s go!”

The titanic dragonfly buzzed its wings, then flew forward, its Speed Boost ability accelerating their journey until they arrived on the roof of the Silph building. The three operatives all leapt off of their mount, landing softly. “The security guard radios make it sound like they’re going to the basement, so they’re probably after active experiments. We shouldn’t discount the idea of them being on upper floors, though.” Jesse returned Yanmega to its ball, then threw out the quieter Pumpkaboo. “We’ll lean on stealth first, but have Growlie ready to back us up in case we need some muscle.”

James nodded. “Let’s go, then.”

Meowth jimmied the handle of the door leading to the staircase, then shook his head. “I’m gonna hafta pick it. Somebody hold me up so I can do it.”

James offered his knee for the Scratch Cat Pokémon to stand on, and after a few seconds of unsheathed claws clicking against pins, the door clicked open slightly, and Jesse pulled it open. “Pumpkaboo, take these trackers, and put them on anyone who’s not a Silph employee with Bestow, top floor down.” She gave it a bag of tiny flakes of metal, and it phased through the roof, giggling silently.

Jesse tapped on the back of her left glove, projecting a holographic model of the building, based on the blueprints that Petrel had scanned when they had taken over Silph for a few days, when Ash was still journeying in Kanto. She flattened it with her other hand, showing only the top floor and the trackers that Gourgeist had. After two of them had split off from the main group, the remainder vanished from the floor.

“James? Ya wanna get Carnivine ready ta use Grasswhistle?” Meowth pointed at the two dots still visible on the top floor. “Dat way we can take the two of dem down and get some a’ da scoop on what dey’re up to.”

He nodded, then sent out the Bug Catcher Pokémon. “Carnivine, go down to the top floor, lure everyone in with Sweet Scent, then hit them with Grasswhistle.”

The three operatives waited until they heard the faint sounds of Carnivine’s soporific attack fade out, then descended the stairs to the top level, following the trackers to where Carnivine was floating above a man and a woman drooling on the floor.

“Good work, Carnivine. Now tie them up with Vine Whip.” That being done, they took a look at the two. The man was square-jawed and blue-haired, and he had a whip strapped to his side opposite two Poké Balls. The woman had reddish-purple hair just a shade too faded to be her natural color cut in a chin-length bob, and she also had a whip secured across from two Great Balls and a Poké Ball.

Jesse frowned, thinking, then snapped her fingers. “Hang on a sec. Weren’t these two Grunts at one point?”

“Yeah, da guy was kicked out for unnecessary brutality to his Pokémon. I gotta say, I was glad dat Ariana had his Pokémon confiscated when he left.” Meowth scowled down at the two criminals. “Not sure about her, doh. She just kinda stopped showin up.”

“Well then, let’s see what they’re doing here.” Jesse reached down and shook the man until he woke up.

“You! What’d the boss send you here for? This ain’t a Rocket op! We’re independent contractors! You guys have no reason to butt in!” he snarled, struggling against the tough vines he was wrapped in.

“The boss got wind of a big operation going down right in the middle of Rocket territory. Of course we’d get involved. Now spill, what’s the job?” demanded Jesse.

“I ain’t squealin, ya pansies! Yeah, I ain’t gonna talk to two losers who can’t even steal one Pikachu!” He spat at her feet.

Jesse looked at James. “Well, it looks like the ruse worked.” She released her Banette, then turned to Carnivine. “Grasswhistle him, then Banette, Dream Eater and make him forget this conversation.”

That done, she turned to the other “contractor” and shook her awake. “What’s the deal with the takeover?”

She sighed in relief. “Oh, good, they sent in the big guns.” Seeing the trio’s confused looks, she elaborated hurriedly. “I’m still a member of Team Rocket. Proton recruited me for deep cover work, so I’m trying to make my way to the top of this particular group. It’s… pretty bad. Perfection is making a comeback.”

“That is very fu-” James began.

“James! No swearing, dere are kids who are gonna read dis!” Meowth slapped him across the face. He then turned to the double agent. “What’re dey tryin ta do here?”

She shook her head. “Taen didn’t say. All we were told is that we were taking over Silph Co for him to get to something in the basement.”

Jesse winced. “That’s not great. We might need some backup to deal with him.”

The agent shook her head. “I don’t think so. He’s relying on stealth, so he doesn’t have his normal team. He’s using a Porygon-Z for data acquisition and his Delta Metagross for muscle and transportation. If you’re using the Sweet Scent-Grasswhistle strategy, you should be able to make it all the way down to him if you hurry.”

James nodded. “We’re going to have to put you back under if you want to keep your cover. Is there anything else we need to know before we go on?”

She shook her head. “Nothing urgent, but pass my congratulations on to the boss for finally setting up the arrangement with InterPol.”

Jesse nodded. “Will do. Good luck on your mission.”

“Hold on just a sec. You wanna rough up your team a bit? It’d go a long way towards setting ya up as competent if yer the only one ta put up a fight against us,” Meowth suggested, cutting the vines with Night Slash and allowing them to fade back into energy, which dissipated.

“That sounds like a good idea. Alright, Crobat, Thievul, come on out!” 

The two Pokémon burst out of the Great Balls, with Crobat trilling excitedly and Thievul lowering itself into a combat crouch.

“Alright, Mimikyu, prepare for trouble!” shouted Jesse, calling out her Fairy type.

“Toxapex, it’s your turn! Let’s make it double!” James posed as his Toxapex landed on the ground.

“Aerial Ace! Foul Play!” the sleeper agent cried, sending her two Pokémon into action.

“To **Protect** the world from devastation! Shadow Sneak!” Mimikyu’s energy barrier deflected the charging Crobat, and she retaliated by reaching through its shadow to swipe at it.

“To unite all people within our nation! Baneful Bunker!” Toxapex’s tentacles slammed down in time with James’ shout, and her spikes exuded poison just in time for the Thievul to run into them and cover itself in the goo, which seeped into its skin and started eating away at its stamina.

“To denounce the evils of truth and love! Will-O-Wisp!” A flash of witchfire shot out from Mimikyu, landing dead center on the Crobat’s head and imparting a nasty burn.

“To extend our reach to the stars above! Venom Drench!” Two of Toxapex’s tentacles rose up, and she spat a blob of toxic goo towards the Thievul, gumming up its fur and hindering its motions.

“Jesse!”  
  
“James!”

“Team Rocket! Blast off at the speed of light in a **Hex**!” At this, Mimikyu’s eyes gleamed, and a cloud of miasma formed around Crobat, sending it careening dangerously close to the ground before it managed to pull up.

“Surrender now, or prepare for a tremendous fight! Venoshock!” Toxapex opened its mouth, spitting a stream of poisonous liquid that pushed the Thievul back, staggering it.

“Meowth, dat’s right!” The Pokémon in question darted forwards, bouncing between the two opposing battlers in a flurry of Fury Swipes before sticking a three-point landing right in front of Jesse and James.

“We’re not out of this yet! Thievul, try a Mud Shot! Crobat, Shadow Ball the Mimikyu!” Thievul coalesced mud out of pure Infinity Energy, then blasted it at Toxapex as Crobat swooped up, releasing an orb of darkness as it climbed out of its dive.

“Mimikyu, Shadow Claw and then Thunderbolt!” Forming blades of shadow-aligned Infinity Energy, Mimikyu slashed the ball of darkness apart, powering through the splash of darkness and releasing a blast of lightning that knocked Crobat out of the sky, unconscious. The secret Rocket agent called it back before it hit the floor.

“Overwhelm it with a Hydro Pump, Toxapex!” The Brutal Star Pokémon blasted a massive stream of water forward, blasting the mud back at the Thievul, sending it slamming into the wall and then allowing it to drop to the floor, unconscious.

The agent shook her head, smiling. “I really forgot how strong you two are. Not a whole lot of need to strut your stuff around Ketchum, is there?”

James smirked. “Not really, no. It’s nice to be able to cut loose, at least a little.” He turned to his Carnivine, calling back his Toxapex. “Tie her up with Vine Whip, but not too tight.”

With that done, they trooped towards the staircase, with Gourgeist phasing up through the floor to return the significantly lighter bag of trackers.

“Good job, Gourgeist. Return, for now,” Jesse said, calling it back and then re-expanding the holographic map of the building, showing two to four red dots on each floor, with the exception of the basement, which had only one.

James looked at the map, then nodded. “I think we could still get away with using the Sweet Scent-Grasswhistle idea to take out the trainers long enough to tie up.”

“Sounds good ta me, let’s go!”

* * *

“I don’t think I’ve seen this much muscle in one place that wasn’t a big team event,” said James, 26 tied-up Trainers later. Most of them had had to be lured in, but on two floors, researchers had managed to react and engage the grunts in a battle, explaining why no one had come to investigate when they had taken on Maria-there was enough resistance elsewhere that they were assumed to just be another holdout, since they had been fortunate enough to catch them before they had reported the floor secured. On those floors, James and Carnivine managed to bypass the Sweet Scent and just go straight for Grasswhistle, putting the researchers back in control of the floor.

“That just means this is serious. If he wanted to risk Sabrina or Karate Master Koichi coming down on him after taking on the Silph Security Department, he has to be here for something important to Perfection.” Jesse fed a Potion into the delivery method of Mimikyu’s Poké Ball, healing off the damage that it had taken in the battle with the Crobat.

“Dat makes sense. I know I wouldn’t wanna deal wit Sabrina.” Meowth tested his claws against the corner of a table, then nodded. “We ready ta get on wit da big battle?”

“I’m all ready.” James had already given Pinsir the Mega Stone, and had the Mega Ring secured around his wrist.

“Alright then.” Jesse pulled the basement door open, then led the two other members of Team Rocket down into the basement, where they proceeded into a corridor full of doors.

“Of course it’s da one at da back. Why can’t we have it be one a da closer ones?” Meowth groused, shaking his head at the rectangle of light shining forth from the door at the end of the hall.

“Dramatic effect, I suppose.” James led them down to the door, and then they burst through, Poké Balls at the ready.

The blue-haired man at the computer terminal at the end of the nearest computer stack, who the Rocket agents identified as Taen, looked up and sighed. “Oh, great. You three.”

“To protect the world from devastation!”

“To unite all people within our nation!”  
  
“To denounce the evils of truth and love!”

“To extend our reach to the stars above!”

“Team Rocket! Blast off with the power of light!”

“Surrender now, or prepare for a Mega-size fight!”

“Meowth, dat’s right!”

“Did you really have to do the motto again? You already did that once, and it’s incredibly tacky.” Taen pinched the bridge of his nose.

“We’d be remiss in our duties as loyal Rocket agents if we didn’t declare it to the world,” snapped Jesse. “Now surrender!”

“I don’t think so.” Taen threw out a stony, four-legged construct Metagross, then sneered, “Crystallize, Metagross.”  
  
A shard of arctic blue crystal, almost hidden in the mossy X on its face, glowed, then melted into the stone of the Rock type, transmuting the stone of its body into cloudy spikes of crystal, leaving it hovering, but with two legs with mossy “bracelets”, ready to maul with sharp claws.

The Rockets’ eyes all widened, then they burst into action, with Jesse calling out Banette and James releasing Pinsir as Meowth darted behind them.

“Prepare yourself to blast off! Mega Evolve!” cried Jesse, raising her Mega Ring and unleashing the power within Banette’s Mega Stone to transform it from a forgotten toy to an aspect of nightmares.

“Alright, Pinsir, time to fight!” James raised his arm also, the power of the Mega Stone allowing Pinsir to stretch its wings and strengthen its horns.

“Crystal Rush combo.” At this command, the shard-clawed Pokémon blurred forward, slamming its limbs into the Rocket Megas, knocking them into the air where it could blast them with Seed Bombs.

“Icy Wind, continuously! Don’t let it build up any momentum!” snapped Jesse, and Banette opened its formerly-zippered maw and exhaled a massive gust of freezing air, slowing its movements down.

“”Quick, while it’s slow! X-Scissor!” Pinsir clacked its mandibles, then launched itself buzzing forward, massive pincers slamming closed on one of Metagross’ limbs and cracking the outside shell of its armor. Unfortunately, as the crystal fell away in shards, the Metagross whipped the Pinsir off its leg, then blurred forward even faster, accelerated by the loss of mass.

“Keep it up, Banette!” Jesse stepped back and whispered a direction to James, who nodded and pulled Pinsir back before breaking a capsule of something over it. Meanwhile, Banette was keeping up a constant stream of icy air to try and slow down the Metagross.

“Rock Polish, Growth, then Wood Hammer. Make it quick.” The Crystal-type’s sheen brightened as the moss on its legs doubled in thickness, then it smashed its arm down at Banette.

“Destiny Bond!” Jesse shouted frantically, and Banette began to wrap the Ghost-type energy around itself. Unfortunately, it wasn’t fast enough, and the Metagross’ arm slammed it into the ground and left it unconscious, albeit not without a little of the energy splashing onto the Metagross and slowing it down.

This was exactly the opening James needed.

“Guillotine!” James ordered, throwing his arm forward.

“What? No! Metagross, get back!” Even with the speed boost from Rock Polish, Taen’s Metagross was too slow.

Pinsir charged in sideways, catching Metagross’ main body between its pincers perfectly thanks to the X Accuracy that James had given it and crunched down with a flash of light and a massive _CRACK!_ , then threw the unconscious Pokémon at Taen, forcing him to dodge aside.

Jesse called out her Pumpkaboo, pointing at Taen. “It’s over! Come quietly.”

He called his Pokémon back, then turned back to the computer screen. “Porygon-Z, finish up and then it’s time to go.”

Almost immediately, the Virtual Pokémon burst forth from the computer screen, stack of data drives under its arm, then it latched onto Taen’s outstretched arm.

“Thief!” shouted Jesse, sending her Pumpkaboo to swipe at the data disks, which the Normal-type managed to keep a hold of.

“Pinsir, Feint!” James’ Pokémon surged forward, landing a glancing blow on the Porygon-Z.

An instant later, a flash of light filled the area, and once Team Rocket blinked the spots out of their eyes, Taen and his Porygon were gone.

“Drat! We almost had it.” James sighed, then recalled Pinsir into its Poké Ball.

Pumpkaboo shook, then held up a single disk that it had managed to swipe from Taen’s Porygon-Z.

“I think the Boss might want to see this.” Jesse stood up, then started heading out of the room. “Come on, you two!”

* * *

Giovanni steepled his fingers, resisting the urge to frown. “So Perfection is the one who muscled in on Silph Co, and they stole a great number of design schematics. Is this all?"

“Proton is also attempting to infiltrate them, sir, and we did what we could to support his agent.” After answering the question, Jesse lowered her head and waited for Giovanni’s judgement.

The man in question closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again. “The three of you did as well as could be expected, given the situation at hand. Take the next two days off, and then return to shadowing the Ketchum boy. He’ll likely encounter Perfection too, so make sure you are prepared for that eventuality. Dismissed.”

The tension in the room dissipated at this, and the three operatives filed out of Giovanni’s office, leaving him alone to contemplate courses of action.

After almost ten minutes of silent contemplation, Giovanni started to compose a memo to Proton about the situation at hand. There were plans to be made, schemes to be prepared, contingencies to prepare for, and a destructive influence to remove from the equation.

* * *

Taen landed gently, his Porygon-Z having teleported them back a few inches above the ground of his safe house so as to avoid the soles of his shoes being fused with the floor. After a moment, the Pokémon in question lost cohesion and dissolved into red light, exhausted from retrieving the muscle they had hired before they could be arrested, returning itself to its Poké Ball and leaving the data disks in Taen’s hand.

“Taen. How did the Silph operation go?” asked the hologram of Reukra that sprang into existence moments later.

“We got all the data and schematics we need. However, Team Rocket is aware of our presence on the figurative stage. They sent the JJM trio out, and they very nearly managed to stop me getting away. They were much more dangerous than I was led to believe,” said Taen.

Reukra frowned. “Hmm. I’ll update their threat level once I get the data from your combat recorder. Were any of the contractors you hired worth keeping on?”

“There was one who actually managed to avoid the Carnivine that they were using to put everyone to sleep, and she actually managed to last almost thirty seconds in battle against them. I think the name she gave was Maria.” Taen closed his eyes, pulling up a mental image of the application she had submitted. “Yes, Maria Calaveras.”

Reukra nodded. “In that case, consider her for recruitment. I leave the actual decision up to you.

“Very well, sir. By your leave.”

Reukra said nothing for several seconds before his hologram faded into nothingness.

Taen sighed, then turned to the restorative machine in the gray, featureless room, placing his Poké Balls in it to heal the damage done in battle. Then, he turned to his computer and loaded the data disks. Some of the devices he had schematics for could aid him on his missions...

**Author's Note:**

> And that's on that.
> 
> Some of the Pokémon might have been released, or unevolved, when shown in canon, but I'm buffing up their teams so they can fight at least somewhat close to the version of Ash Ketchum that's in this AU, who will be able to strut his stuff in the next fic in this series.
> 
> I've also finally got myself a writeblr: https://lucifra-writes.tumblr.com/


End file.
